Excelsior-machine.



J. W. KEOGH.

EXCELSIOR MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.5, 1912. l 1,020,100 Patented Mar. 12, 1912.

,umili 7// JOI-IN W. KEOGH, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

EXCELSIOR-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 12, 1912.

Application filed January 5, 1912. Serial No. 669,615.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN W. Kroon, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Excelsior-Machines, of whichthe following isa specification.

My object is to provide an excelsior machine with cutting mechanism soconstructed and arranged as not only to improve its operations whencutting against dry and seasoned straight-grained wood, but enable it toproduce eXcelsior of good quality from wood of a character or conditionhitherto generally regarded as undesirable for the purpose.

It has been the common practice heretofore in excelsior machines toprovide a reciprocating cutter-frame with scoring-cutters and astraight-edged planing-knife, the former operating to produce closelyadjacent parallel incisions in the surface of the block of wood and thelatter operating to shave olf the scored surface-portion of the block.Excelsior machines have also been operated without the employment ofscoring-cutters by equipping the cutter-frame merely with aplaning-blade, termed a milled knife, having a beveled shaving edge andparallel plowing ridges in its face, as shown and described in LettersPatent No. 495,879, granted to Henry C. Cloyd, April 18, 1893. In theuse of the more common machine mentioned, which employs thescoring-cutters and straight-edged shaving-knife, it is necessary thatthe wood operated upon shall be dry and comparative y free from knotsfor the production of eX- eelsior of good quality, the reasons beingthat if the wood is wet it presents a spongy surface-portion which tendsto yield under the pressure of the shaving-knife and interfere with theproper cutting. In thus yielding under the lmife the surface of the woodis fuzzed up .as it is called, and results, furthermore, in sodisarranging the feed of the Wood with relation to the movement of theknife as to clog and frequently stop the machine. In the case ofcross-grained or knotty wood the shaving knife tends to crumble the woodand produce dust. If gnarly parts of the wood are wet and spongy, thestraight-edged knife is apt to ride over them and thus interfere wit-hthe operation of the machine. In the use of the milled knife mentioned,without the scoring-cutters, excelsior of good quality can only beproduced from wood having a straight grain, for the reason that as theshaving-edge plows through the wood the sharp ridges in the face of theknife, which readily split straight-grained shavings, fail to cut whirlyor cross-grained shavings, leaving the product in more or lessblanketform instead of in separate strands.

In carrying out my invention I provide the cutter-frame withscoring-cutters and a knife of the' milled type, so constructed andarranged with relation to each other that the above-named objections areovercome.

Referring to the accompanying drawing- Figure l is a longitudinalsection of a portion of an excelsior machine showing a holder and feederfor a wooden block and a reciprocating cutter-frame equipped withscoring-cutters and a shaving knife, the section being taken on line lin Fig. 2: Fig. 2, a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. l; Fig. 3, asection taken on line 3 in Fig. 2; Fig. 1, a longitudinal section of themilled shaving-knife; Fig. 5, a broken plan View of the saidshaving-knife; and Fig. 5, an enlarged end view of a portion of theshaving-knife, showing its cutting edge.

The frame of the machine is formed with parallel side-bars G, 6, havingguide-ways 7, 7 for the reciprocating cutter-frame 8. The block of wood9, which is to be cut into excelsior 9, is engaged and held by serratedrollers 10, which are rotated intermittently between reciproeations ofthe frame 8, in a common manner, to feed the block of wood 9 apredetermined distance with each movement in the direction of the pathof the cutter-frame. Forming part of the frame 8 is a holder 1lcontaining a series of scoringblades 12. The scoring-blades have beveledlower ends 13 terminating in cutter-points, and I prefer to so mountthem in the holder 11 that the points of the adjacent cutters extend inopposite directions, as indicated. The scoring-blades are held inadjusted position in the holder 11 by means of a setscrew 14. In thecutter-frame is a planeslot 15 back of which is an inclined bed 16 forthe shaving-knife 17. The shavingknife is fastened in place by screws18, eX- tending through slots 19 into the bed, and is provided at itslower end with a beveled shaving-edge 20. Extending from the edge 20along the forward face of the knife or blade 17 are parallel ridges 21presenting sharp edges terminating at the edge 20 in the plow-points 22.By so forming the blade the shaving-edge 2O thereof presents a pluralityof sections represented at 20a. The cutter-frame 8 is connected by apitman 23 with a crank or eccentric (not shown) of a power-shaft bymeans f which the frame is reciprocated along a path approximating orexceeding in length the distance between the rollers 10.

The scoring points are provided of such a number and are so arrangedlrelative to the shaving-blade 17 that a pluralityv of the points 13oppose each cutting edge-section 2Oa and thus each of the latter, inoperati on, operate upon a section of the wooden block containing aplurality of scoring lines, it being preferred that there be provided atleast three of the scoring-points 13 for coperation with eachcutting-edge section 20a. It will be understood that Where it is desiredto produce eXcelsior of different degrees of flneness, the number of thescoring points 13 provided for each cutting-section 2Oa will be variedas desired.

In operation, no matter how wet or crossgrained the block 9 may be, thescoringpoints 13 will sever the wood, producing closely adjacentparallel incisions to a depth closely approximating the plane of thepath of the points 22. The latter have a plowing action upon the wood,with the result that even when the wood is wet and spongy proper shavingwill always be effected without any tendency of the surf-ace-portion ofthe block t0 yield and pass beneath the knife, as is apt to happen whena straightedged shaving-knife is employed. By providing thescoring-cutters to cooperate with the milled knife not only are longstrands of uniform size produced, but the resistance of the wood againstthe act-ion of the yplowpoints is weakened to an extent which overcomesall danger of breaking the plowpoints.

One of the advantages of my improvement lies in the fact that it isunnecessary, as has hitherto been the case, that the wood from which theeXcelsior is cut shall be seasoned and dry, because the fact of itsbeing green or wet will not interfere with the proper operation of thecutters and when cut into strands the material may be dried veryreadily.

Vhile I prefer to construct my improve ments throughout as shown anddescribed, they may be variously modified in thematter of details ofconstruction without depart-ing from the spirit of my invention asdefined by the claim.

Vhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is- ,y

In an eXcelsior-machine, the combination with a block-holder andcutter-frame, one movable with relation to the other, of an inclinedplaning-bladel mounted in said frame having a beveled sharpened edge atits forward end lying in the plane of the cut, a series of grooves inthe forward face of said blade having one wall normal to the plane ofthe blade and the other wall slightly inclined to said plane so as toform a series of cutting edges 0r planing-sections parallel with eachother but inclined across the plane of the cut, anda plurality ofscoring-cutters for cooperation with each of said planing-sections,mounted in said frame across the path of said planing-sections.

JOHN W. KEOGH. In presence of- H. W. IVHITNEY, N. J. DAVIDSON.

Copies fof this patent may be obtained fol` ve cents each, by addressingthe V Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C.

